The lowly, slimy banana slug will be honored this afternoon when the Santa Cruz City Council declares Sept. 27, 2011, "Official Day of the UCSC Banana Slug."

The University of California at Santa Cruz's unconventional mascot is synonymous with the unconventional city of Santa Cruz. While traveling in other parts of the country, if you tell someone you're from Santa Cruz, often times your inquiring listener will respond, "Banana slugs!"

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The city council is expected to pass the declaration during their weekly meeting.

Sammy the Slug survived as UCSC's representative despite attempts for its ouster.

In 1980, UCSC administrators decided that their university needed a more dignified mascot than a shell-less mollusk that crawls along the floors of redwood tree forests.

Five of UCSC's sports teams had just been accepted into the NCAA's Division III, a big step up from extramural athletic competition. So the chancellor booted the banana slug and declared a new mascot: a sea lion.

Banana slugs, after all, do not radiate athleticism and competitiveness; the sluggish bright yellow creatures are slow, primitive and quiet.

But this did not sit well with students, and the vast majority of campus turned a cold shoulder to their new marine mammal mascot. When a sea lion was painted in the middle of the gym's floor, but students continued to cheer, "Go slugs!"

A two-mascot problem ensued for the next five years, as the campus split into banana slug-loving loyalists and sea lion supporters. In 1986, the banana slug emerged as the triumphant victor when the chancellor made Sammy the Slug the university's official representative once again.

UCSC students celebrated by recording a pop protest slug song titled, "The Slugs Are Back."

Since then, the banana slug was ranked by ESPN and Sports Illustrated as one of the 10 best college mascots.

In addition, Sammy the Slug was immortalized in the 1994 cult-classic film "Pulp Fiction." While cleaning up a bloody murder scene, John Travolta's character showered and dressed in a UCSC banana slug T-Shirt so he could pass himself off as a "dork."